TWMP: Speaker Todd Richardson and right-to-work

by Travis Zimpfer ·
Published January 28, 2017
· Updated January 27, 2017

On Sunday’s episode of This Week in Missouri Politics, House Speaker Todd Richardson stops by the program to discuss a busy legislative week in Jefferson City. They discuss right-to-work passing through the Senate and how quickly it will go through the House, and the possibility it could get on Gov. Eric Greitens’ desk by Friday.

“The governor has consistently identified this as one of his priorities as we have. We think it’s important to the long-term economic viability of the state, so I don’t think he’ll waste time in signing that bill into law,” Richardson says.

They also go over other labor reform measures currently in the legislature, talk about the passage of ridesharing legislation through the House, and the state’s budget crunch situation.

On the opinion maker panel, Pat White of the St. Louis Labor Council, Jim Loomis of the St. Louis County Democrats, Victory Enterprises’ Joe Lakin and Rep. John Wiemann, R-St. Charles, discuss passing right-to-work through the House and Senate and what’s next for the Missouri Legislature on labor reform and how momentous this week actually was for Missouri.

“Republicans across the state have campaigned on this and it’s about to become reality, especially with the governor on board as well,” Lakin said.

They also talked about Rep. Kirk Mathews’ Uber bill passing through the House and the impact it could have on Missouri’s economy.

“I probably took an Uber five times in the last week,” Loomis says. “When I get in Uber, the number one thing I want is to be safe. They should be held to the same standard as the taxicabs.”

Finally, they get around to the online sales tax occurring in Missouri, and the movement in Missouri to get Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA.

This episode of TWMP will air at 11:00 a.m. in the St. Louis area on ABC 30 KDNL, in the Kansas City area on 38 the Spot at 10:00 a.m. and in mid-Missouri on KRCG at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 29. The show is available online at 11:00 a.m. at twmp.tv.